2015-12-28

【Aiden in English】

        Maryland houses the one thing the nation prides. Well, technically speaking, it isn’t in Maryland, but I’m not that technical. No, it’s not the winner of the NFC East (screw you Eagles!) or a decent basketball team (screw you 76ers!), but the nation’s capital. No one passes through Maryland without thinking about the stately White House and the craftiness of a politician and Donald Trump, and mom and I were not out of the ordinary in that particular category.

        Okay, maybe for one category we are a bit different. Instead of visiting the Natl. Air and Space Museum or the Natl. Museum of Natural History, we went to the Library of Congress (LOC). Yeah! Well, I’m really excited about this one. Visitors don’t even get to view books! Yet this library was more on the history side, and right off the bat, I could infer that it was more of a museum than a knowledge/boredom center. Magnificent mosaics decorated Italian Renaissance style architecture. As we boarded a public, free tour, we learned that the building was not always planned like this. In the early 1800s, a library for Congress was designed and built in the Capitol but was soon destroyed by the British in the war of 1812. Then, the second time it was built, a hyper chimney on Christmas Eve burned down nearly every book in the library in 1851. So a new building was to be built, and it was supposed to be big, but simple. It turned out to be quite fancy. As the French Opera House was opening soon, and well, knowing the United States of America, the LOC then had to be the best of the best, number one in the world, wipe out all competition, look like today Golden State Warriors, and etcetera. And boom, here we have it, the great Jefferson Building. He got to the name because of the number of books sold to the library in 1815 to actually make the collection a collection. But a few decades later, the Madison and Adam Buildings were built for, you guessed it or maybe didn’t, more books! As well as patents, motion pictures, regular pictures, journals, letters, artworks, diaries, and anything you can think of that would be on a nerd’s desk.

        Around the building were many paintings and mosaics, each with different meanings. To start, in the main reading room, where basically you could fit Albert Einstein’s brain into the books and shelves, at the top of the ceiling where it was domed, was a painting of a woman. The woman was taking a hood off, and it symbolized the unveiling of ignorance. On the entrance to the room was a mosaic of Minerva, to all those Percy Jackson fans, symbolizing wisdom. She had dropped her shield and pointed her spear into the ground, which meant she was surrendering, and she was reading from a scroll showing wisdom, and under her was a small statue of Nike, the goddess of victory and Golden State Warriors, at least looking at their season right now. It wished to the people that used the wisdom within the room for success for whatever it was. And no, it’s not the sports company Nike, but they have some success as well.

       Yes, we thought about the Capitol of our country, and I also thought about how the Philadelphia Eagles so should’ve won the last game against the Washington Redskins. Donald Trump was left out of the conversation, and he didn’t need to be in my holiday discussion. But since I’m talking about him now, well, some things can’t be avoided. Just hope that he doesn’t burn down the Library of Congress with his attitude to life.

【红霞译文】

        马里兰州因是首都所在地而引人骄傲，严格地说，首都根本没有坐落在马里兰州，可我本身没那么专业，且慢，咱不提国家橄榄球联合会东区赛事（去你的吧，费城老鹰队！）或者像样的篮球队（滚蛋吧，费城七六人队！）而只谈国家首都。每逢路过马里兰州，人们免不了想起权力象征的白宫、纵横捭阖的政治家、有钱任性的唐纳德·特朗普，况且我和妈妈都不是那种脱俗之人。

        没错，如果硬要分门别类，我们有点与众不同。这回道访华府，我们既不是冲美国国家航空航天博物馆而来，也不是奔美国国立自然历史博物馆而去，相反却为浏览国会图书馆而至，千真万确！对喽，此行令我极度兴奋，来访者亲临藏书之地反倒无需读书！国会图书馆比较偏重历史，而非知识性博物馆／让人疲乏中心，沿袭了意大利文艺复兴建筑风格的马赛克装饰可谓富丽堂皇。正因为加入国会图书馆为公众免费提供的参观小组，我们才搞清楚大楼原始设计根本不是现在我们看到的这个样子。追溯到十九世纪早期，国会图书馆首次破土动工，当时设在国会大厦内，但不久即毁于1812年美英战争之中。重建的国会图书馆命运多舛，1851年平安夜烟囱起火，几乎烧掉所有藏书。于是，兴建一个又新又大简单易行的国会图书馆迫在眉睫，但最终却造出这么一个出奇华美的建筑。当时法国歌剧院即将落成，明白了吧，美国国会图书馆必须好上加好，而且一定举世无双，并以排山倒海之势力压群雄，如同时下金州勇士队所向无敌，等等。只听“轰”的一声，世界上最大的图书馆杰斐逊大厦与世人见面。之所以以他的名字命名，是因为1815年他把自己收藏的图书转手卖给国会图书馆“收藏”，几十年过后，麦迪逊和亚当大厦先后完工，无论你想到没有，书越来越多！另外还有专利、电影、普通胶片、报刊、信件、艺术品以及其它你放飞想象书呆子热衷摆放在桌上的任何玩意。

        绘画作品及镶嵌艺术无处不在，而且各自都有不同的寓意。先从主阅览室说起，那可真是集艾尔伯特·爱因斯坦之大成，将其聪睿才智全部复制成书并整理上架；圆拱形屋顶画有妇女肖像，她正要摘下帽子，借此引申除去无知的面纱；正门挂着一件密涅瓦马赛克，对于所有珀西·杰克逊书迷而言，她是智慧的象征。密涅瓦放下手中盾牌，把战矛插入地面，意味着她鼓足勇气热爱智慧，其下方是胜利女神耐克塑像，恰巧反映出金州勇士队目前的战绩。这幅画的用意在于，智慧是成功的前提，希望所有到此研习的学者都能从智慧中吸取力量，争取在各行各业获得成功。上面所提到的耐克不是生产运动品牌的公司，但不管怎样，两者各有成功的一面。

        是的，人人都会惦记一国之家的国会大厦，这不能不叫我联想起上一场美式橄榄球比赛费城老鹰队怎么会赢不了华盛顿红皮队，唐纳德·特朗普已被排除在原因之外，过节期间我不想拿他说事，不过既然提及他，我就直白好了，但愿他的处世态度不会毁掉国会图书馆。